Polyus Net Up 57%

Polyus said Monday that its bottom line reached $558 million in 2011, with gold sales jumping 37 percent to a record high $2.3 billion. EBITDA reached $1.1 billion in 2011, up 55 percent year on year, while its total cash costs rose 19 percent to $661 per troy ounce.

Polyus also said its chief executive German Pikhoya was appointed to the board of directors, replacing Yevgeny Ivanov who also stepped down as a president of the company.

Russian oil output fell to 10.65 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, down from 10.71 million bpd in June, falling from post-Soviet highs maintained since March, Energy Ministry data showed on Sunday.

Last month saw a summit of two organizations significant for both Russia and China. An extremely wide range of topics were discussed at the BRICS summit and Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Ufa, Russia.

When young investigator Pavel Yasman was tasked with interrogating Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky, known for his shocking political protest stunts, he never imagined that their conversations would change his life.

A German court case against Sergei Maximov, the man believed to be pro-Kremlin hacker "Hell," has burst back into the spotlight following a guest appearance by a close associate of opposition firebrand Alexei Navalny.

On the blustery terrace of a quiet cafe in Moscow, Natalia Freidina, the only female racing driver in the Blancpain GT Series, rushes in over an hour late. Ironically, someone has run into her car on the way.

Russia is far from being a cultural, religious or ethnic monolith and trying to combat this diversity by suppressing minority religions promises more chaos, write M. Zuhdi Jasser and Katrina Lantos Swett.